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New Concern Over Peace Talks After Israel Defers a Meeting

JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 -- Israel canceled a scheduled meeting with Palestinian negotiators today, raising concerns that the fragile peace effort had reached another potential breaking point, but by day's end it had arranged another meeting for Wednesday.

After the initial cancellation, Palestinian negotiators quickly condemned the Israelis, saying that the move put in question Israel's commitment to the peace effort.

"This is a regrettable decision that shows that the Israeli government is trying to prepare for itself a path out of the peace process," Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said.

But Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office quickly played down today's cancellation, describing it as an insignificant hiatus intended to give the Israelis time to assess where things stood in the deadlocked peace effort. Mr. Barak's office announced at 9 p.m. that "contacts" would resume on Wednesday.

The Israelis are taking pains to distinguish between "meetings" and negotiations. Mr. Barak's spokesman, Gadi Baltiansky, said that the Israelis do not believe that negotiations have resumed since the Camp David peace summit in July. There have only been, he said, "meetings to see if we can find a basis to resume negotiations."

Mr. Erekat, however, described this week's talks as more substantive, suggesting that the Israelis were being disingenuous. He said that in the first two days of meetings, a schedule had been established that apportioned time for all the major issues on the table in the final status peace negotiations. He said that he was caught by surprise by today's cancellation. Later, he said that he was dizzied by the re-scheduling.

Speaking on Israel Radio, Danny Yatom, Mr. Barak's security adviser, maintained that there was no rancor involved. "We are not angry with the Palestinians and they are not angry with us," he said.

But he suggested that the Palestinians consider taking a more "moderate, constructive" approach.

And Mr. Barak himself linked the resumption of negotiations — as opposed to "discourse," which he said was ongoing, to a demonstration of greater flexibility by Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

"Negotiations themselves may be held once Chairman Arafat agrees to discuss the ideas raised by President Clinton at Camp David or since," Mr. Barak said.